New series starting recently include This is Going to Hurt, Dark Winds, and Ms. Marvel. We’ve only seen one or two episodes of these new series so far, so I’m just going to share some initial impressions and ideas about them. They all seem promising to me.
This is Going to Hurt
This is Going to Hurt features Ben Whishaw as Adam, an overworked NHS doctor who delivers babies. Adam is gay and exhausted. He breaks the 4th wall to share the idiocy around him.
Working with Adam are Shruti (Ambika Mod), a new doctor who is a train wreck, and an experienced nurse named Tracy (Michele Austin). Adam’s live in partner is Harry (Rory Fleck Byrne). Mr. Lockhart (Alex Jennings) the consultant in charge of Adam.
The show seems both serious and caustically funny. The first episode was directed by Lucy Forbes. You can watch it on AMC and/or AMC+.
Dark Winds
Dark Winds stars Zahn McClarnon as Joe Leaphorn and Kiowa Gordon as Jim Chee, well loved characters from Tony Hillerman’s books about two Navajo cops. The female deputy is played by Jessica Matten.
Like the well-received series Reservation Dogs, it’s Native Americans both in front of and behind the camera on this series. The scenery looks like authentic Navajo country in Arizona and New Mexico. Respect for native culture and values are paramount in the series opener.
This is another AMC/AMC+ series.
Ms. Marvel
Iman Vellani stars as Kamala Khan or Ms. Marvel. She’s a Muslim teen from New Jersey who becomes a superhero. The series is oriented for the hippest of teens with animations, the latest music, colorful action sequences and a likeable teen heroine. It has charm, verve, and so much going on you could watch every episode several times before you caught everything there.
There are already plans for how this Disney+ series is going to fit into the Marvel Universe, and for how Ms. Marvel and Captain Marvel (Brie Larson) will join in a future film.
I’m always ready to celebrate when under recognized parts of our America make it to the top in series like Dark Winds and Ms. Marvel. Yay for getting this type of material made and on television. Are you watching any of these new series?
Cannot wait to sit down with “Dark Winds.” As a mystery reader, I have always loved Tony Hillerman’s mysteries.
This is from the very beginning of the Leaphorn/Chee story. Chee shows up, arrogant and citified, and doesn’t reveal he’s FBI. If this series makes it, there are dozens more stories ahead that could be told.